Why is helping others so important in not only the Drupal community, but in Open Source development at large? Every year, new people start learning Drupal, and every year, Drupal gets harder to learn. By being willing to help others by sharing knowledge and experience, we can build a much stronger community, while helping ourselves grow as developers.

Drupal is built by thousands of people, some developers, some designers, and some who do neither, but still love the project. What would happen if none of them shared what they learned with others in the community? How would new people learn to deal with Drupal’s idiosyncrasies and quirks without access to a helping hand? What do those who have experience have to gain from helping others out? Well, it would ruin the session if I gave all the answers here, now wouldn’t it?

Over the course of this session, I’ll be providing some examples of how having the drive to help others solve problems can build up your own skills. Whether you’re taking the time to answer questions on StackOverflow, watching the #support channel in Slack, or browsing the issue queue for opportunities to contribute, you have the chance to help others while becoming better at what you do.  And if you're new to the community, wondering what the best ways to ask for help are, don't worry, I've got you covered, too!